


Hunted in the Woods

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7098424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Star fled through the forest, and the Dark Rider followed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alarms blared throughout the base, alerting the goons. A description had been put out of the girl and horse who’d escaped their clutches, but really all they had to look out for was a girl escaping on horseback.

“Sabine,” said Sands, “after her!”

“At once, Sangordha,” said Sabine. She was already wearing her Hooded Rider outfit, so all she had to do now was put her hood up and saddle up Khaan. Which she did, very quickly.

Sabine knew that the goons wouldn’t catch Lisa, they were too incompetent for that. So instead, she rode on ahead and waited in the woods around the base. Lisa would be here any moment, and she’d be ready for her.

The gates slid open, expelling the redhead and her albino. Sabine’s eyes glowed yellow in the darkness of her hood, and Khaan snorted and pawed the ground. He was eager to go, so she let him.

Lisa knew that she was being chased. The woods were dark and scary enough, but now someone was chasing after her. She could hear the hoofbeats. And… growling.

Khaan growled as he got closer to the target. Sabine rolled her eyes and flicked the reins against his neck to quiet him. It only made Lisa go faster, so she had to go faster to keep up with her.

Sabine pursued Lisa across the swampy grounds and for a moment thought that she’d caught her. She was close enough to reach out and touch Starshine’s blue tail. But then Khaan’s hoof got caught in a thorny bush. By the time he’d burnt it away with his flaming hooves, Lisa had got ahead of them again.

Apparently, the Soulriders could talk to their horses. Sabine thought that it would be a very useful power to have. Although flaming hoofprints and the ability to teleport weren’t too bad.

“Watch where you’re going, Khaan,” she hissed at him anyway. Khaan only growled again, this time more of a snarl, and sped up. They were on a stony path now, and Sabine could feel some kind of awful light burning her. She also very much wanted to get away.

Sabine couldn’t let Lisa reach the glade or the stonering. If she did, she’d lost her. She urged Khaan to go faster, leaping over the gaps in the road with ease. But then there were the rune stones surrounding the stonering. Both Sabine and Khaan screamed as the light magic burned them, but Lisa didn’t hear it.

Lisa rode into the stonering, trembling with fear.

“It’s over now, they’re gone. We’re safe,” she said to Starshine. “I can feel it. I don’t know how, I just can.”

“I can feel it too,” said Lisa. “This is a safe place. She can’t get us here.”

Sabine rode back to the Dark Core base, scowling.

“Ah, Sabine, you have returned. Empty-handed, I see,” said Sands.

“Yes, Sangordha,” said Sabine, her voice subdued and head lowered. “I have failed you.”

Sands put a hand on her shoulder and pushed back her hood with his other hand.

“There, there,” he cooed. “We will get her someday. I won’t punish you just because she outsmarted you.”

“I would have had her if she didn’t go to the glade,” said Sabine. She clenched her fists. “The magic repelled me.”

“Ah, well, never mind. Some battles you just cannot win. But there are three others who have not yet awakened. Katja is already working on one, and Jessica the other. How would you like me to let you in on some of my plans?” said Sands.

“I would like that very much, sir,” said Sabine. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Come along, then,” said Sands, ushering her through into another room. Sabine gladly followed him.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine finally catches her prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part takes place in Star Stable Online, the first part took place in Starshine Legacy

Lisa was so glad to be home. To be once more reunited with her precious Starshine and galloping across the empty but beautiful Forgotten Fields. This path was old and seldom-used now, but it still held up well under Starshine’s galloping hooves.

“I’m home,” she said to the warm air. Starshine nickered in agreement and echoed the sentiment to her. They’d stayed up all the previous night sharing stories of what had gone on while they’d been apart. Starshine had been puzzled by her descriptions of performing, and even more puzzled by her memories of it. But he had agreed that it had made her happy. That much was clear.

Sabine watched the Star and her horse gallop past her hiding spot in some rocks.

“Showtime,” she whispered, and called forth the lightning spell that she’d learned. But first, a little persuasion would be useful. She had to get her somewhere out of the way, somewhere where nosy little girls couldn’t find her. That pass would do nicely.

Lisa suddenly wanted to take a path that she’d never taken before. It didn’t lead anywhere, but it would have a nice view of the abandoned barn. And anything else that she could see from up there. So she went.

Sabine was surprised that it had been that easy. She’d expected more resistance, but it was possible that Lisa’s guard had been down. Still, just to be safe, she followed after Lisa with a small cavalry. When Lisa rode past a particularly solid-looking rock, Sabine fired her lightning spell.

“Gotcha,” she said with a grin, and trotted Khaan up to look at her result. “No stonering to hide in now, is there?” She laughed down at them, but then stopped when she saw the pink magic. “Drag her away, I’ll go open a rift,” she ordered, and rode up to the right place.

Opening rifts between worlds was easy when you knew what you were doing. She just had to reach out for the fabric between the worlds, which was so fragile these days, and tear using magic that went all the way back to when Pandoria had first been created.

Satisfied with her work, Sabine turned to see how things were progressing. Lisa was healing faster than she’d anticipated.

“Give her here,” Sabine ordered. “I want this done cleanly, and that won’t happen if she wakes up.” Sangordha had taught her how to use the darkness magic, and she used it now to undo the work that Lisa’s magic had done. Then, she finished dragging her up the hill and threw her down into Pandoria.

“I hope you enjoy your stay,” she said into the portal, and then laughed and sealed it just enough that Lisa could see her home but never go there again.

“Well done,” she said triumphantly to the group of riders that had accompanied her. “You can all go back now. Sangordha, and by extension Garnok, will be very pleased with your work.”

Once they’d left, Sabine jumped for joy and danced on the spot. “I did it!” she crowed. “I finally caught you and got you out of the way.” Nobody could see her happy dance.

Khaan snorted.

“Oh, shut up,” she said to him. “Let me do my happy dance.”

Khaan pawed the ground, leaving a scorch mark and igniting several blades of grass.

“Yes, that might be a good idea,” said Sabine. “We’re not done yet, we have to hide the evidence.” Some branches would do the trick. Just enough to cover the pink light, and then enough to obscure the very-obvious burned silhouette.

“A job well done,” Sabine declared. “Well, Khaan, shall we report back to our boss now? I’m sure he will be very happy with us.”

Starshine limped into Jorvik Stables later that night. He’d looked everywhere for Lisa, but she was gone. Sometimes he thought he felt her presence, especially around Greendale and the Grey Dew Mountains, but it was ghostlike. Maybe she was a ghost. He collapsed in front of Herman’s door and sighed heavily.

“Starshine? What happened?” Herman asked when he opened the door and found the horse lying there.

“Lisa’s gone,” he said. He knew that Herman couldn’t hear him. Only Soulriders could do that. And none were around here.

“She’s what?” a familiar voice asked. Starshine looked up and was pleased to see a familiar pony. He’d forgotten that Tin Can often accompanied Alex to Jarlaheim to fix some broken thing or another.

“Gone,” Starshine repeated. “There was a flash of light and when I woke up she was gone.”

“I’ll tell Alex,” Tin Can promised. “She’ll know what to do. Hopefully.”

And Alex did help with the search, for a little while at least. But then Sabine showed up at the manor, and Alex couldn’t leave it alone with her there. So Starshine was left to roam Greendale alone, searching for his rider. Even when it seemed hopeless, he still never gave up. Not while he still caught that glimmer of her presence.


End file.
